Following the recent lockdown of the port city of Apapa by trucks, stakeholders at the nation’s maritime industry have agreed to put aside their differences and work together to tackle the common threat posed to the residents and visitors of Apapa by the traffic.
The meeting held at the premises of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) under the Chairmanship of Chief Remi Ogungbemi, Chairman, Association of Maritime truck Owners (AMATO), agreed to synergize together irrespective of which divide one belongs as the gridlock had to do with the practitioners who cannot move in and out of their place of work.
Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, the President of the Shippers’ Association Lagos State (SALS), Rev. Dr. Jonathan Nicol told our correspondent that all the stakeholders came together today to discuss based on the imperative of the issue adding that the stakeholders appreciated the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the governor of Lagos state, Akinwumi Ambode and the Nigerian Ports Authority for their very serious concerns even as he said that the meeting looked at the critical areas on how to ease off the traffic.
“This is the first time people will come together like that to discuss common problem and this no longer an ordinary problem, we have very big concern in the welfare of the people and in the life aspect of our businesses. So, we had a frank talk on the way forward and we agreed to continue the meeting from time to time.
“The meeting brought all the stakeholders together both the shipping lines and terminal operators, the freight forwarders, even shippers came together to look at how best we can solve this problem and there were very useful solutions because the NPA was threatening that they will declare state of emergency which we mentioned some time ago.
“So, all these were the challenges which we decided to confirm and now that we have come together, there will be some kind of change even though it will not be sporadic. There are lots of problems which from our own point of view were man made, the issue of corruption was again discussed. So, most of the areas we said we should go and educate our people and even confront them head on, so that those people who collect money from truckers. So, by and large, the meeting was very positive”, he said.
The SALS boss reiterated that the meeting was not a fault finding one as there was no room for blame game as all that mattered at the meeting was how to find the root cause of their problems and proffer solutions to them.
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